The Hardships of Kawamura Takashi
by rosenthal
Summary: Three-chapter fic about Kawamura Takashi. Chapter one: his childhood and how he met Akutsu Jin.


Notes: Since I'm stuck with tests, seminars and to top it off, a congress in another state, I'm putting the fanfiction 'day by day' on hold until a have more time and I'll post this three-chapter fic about Kawamura instead. Rated K+ due to some coarse language (courtesy of Akutsu) and violence references (action movies and fighting games). I hope you enjoy it.

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The hardships of Kawamura Takashi

**The child who wanted to be a man**

When Kawamura was little, he was such a shy kid that everyone called him girlish. Since his mother always wanted a girl, his baby photo album was full of pictures of him dressed in pink. Thankfully, his sister was born shortly after; otherwise he would probably end up in a dress as a kid.

Because of that, Takashi became obsessed with "manly men", and watched piles of american action films – the more buttkicking and badasses characters, the better. He would randomly look at his English dictionary for anything that sounded cool and, alone at his room, he practiced catchphrases and poses:

"Great-O!", "Burning!", "No fear!", "C'mon, baby!"

Unfortunately, despite of his efforts, his shyness still overpowered him. Kawamura always perked up when he heard some classmates discussing their favorite movies, actor, fighting scenes and the like. He wanted to join the conversation, but was too afraid to do that, so he ended up sulking at his desk.

Of course, his 'out-of-place' attitude brought some unwanted attention, and children can be cruel. The boys would bully him, calling him names and replace his things for girlish ones (like the day he found his pencil case full of cute pencils and heart-shaped pink erasers). The girls would take Takashi's side and protect him from the bullies, making things worse.

He was already resigned to the fate of never having a male friend when chance knocked at his door – quite literally. A new family had moved to the house next door and they stopped by to greet their new neighbors. Takashi was in his room when his father called him down to greet the Akutsus. He was surprised to see a very young lady and a boy his age.

He bowed politely and greeted them awkwardly. He had no idea what to say next, and the kid – whose name was Akutsu Jin – looked grumpy. His little sister was hiding behind their mother, eyeing the boy warily. Since the children wouldn't say anything, the parents took over the conversation. After a while, Kawamura's dad saw the bored expression at Jin's face and told his son to show his room to the guest and play some video games.

As soon as they entered his room, Akutsu spoke up:

"Let me make it clear: I don't want to be here and don't care shit about making friends."

With that, the scowling boy plopped down at some cushions by the dvd-holder, his arms crossed. The frank and blunt attitude scared Takashi and for a moment he was frozen in his spot. When Akutsu glanced at the dvds and games, his posture somewhat relaxed and he began manipulating some cases unceremoniously, looking intently at the titles. Sensing that the other boy had lowered the defensive stance, Takashi finally gathered enough courage to sit across the table from the guest.

"Heh, at least you have good taste. I thought you were more of the sissy type."

That took Kawamura off guard. Was he just complimented or insulted? He decided upon the first, concluding that Jin had a rough demeanor even when he wanted to be nice. The silence lasted for only a minute until Akutsu spoke up again:

"Whoa! You have the special edition of 'Gangs in Fury'! This dvd shows the entire making of the last scene! Not to mention it's the best work of Van Fuel so far!"

Takashi grinned and finally decided to give his opinion:

"Yeah, it totally rocks! What about the part when Van Fuel beats two rival factions at the same time then says: 'I'm my own gang… I don't need anyone else to beat some scum'"

With that, the boys started an excited conversation and mimicked their favorite scenes from time to time. Taka noticed that his shyness was totally gone and he felt really good speaking up his mind and having fun with another boy with similar tastes. At some point, the topic changed to games and Jin made a challenge:

"You play 'Fighter's Showdown', huh? I can beat you with one arm down" he grinned lopsidedly.

"As if! I'm the best in this game!"

They turned on the console and proceeded to smash the buttons eagerly. The first match ended with Akutsu's win by a scrap and Kawamura asked for a better of tree. When the sushi boy won the other two matches, Jin rebutted and demanded a better of five. The guest had just won the fourth fight when they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Hey, son! I'm sorry to cut your time short, but Akutsu-kun has to go now." Kawamura senior opened the door.

"I'm really sorry, but we still need to do some preparations for tomorrow… But you can always play another day" Akutsu's mother smiled sweetly.

Jin shot a scowling glare at his mother and then grinned back at Taka-san:

"Don't forget, the challenge is still on."

"Ne, ne…" Takashi saw that his sister was latched onto the woman's hand and begging for her attention "Can I go play with you another day too?" She sent the begging puppy look.

"Of course, sweetie."

The five of them went downstairs and proceeded to leave the house.

"It's good to see that our families got along nicely" Kawamura's mother was waiting at the front door with a box. "Here, it's not much, but please accept this homemade dish as a welcome gift."

They exchanged some final pleasantries and bid goodbye. Takashi was still smiling even after the Akutsus disappeared behind the door of their own house. His father saw it and messed with his hair:

"I hope you two become good friends."

Yeah, Takashi also hoped that.


End file.
